Thursday, November 24, 2011

Bruce soon firing on all eight - Owen Sound Sun Times - Ontario, CA

This article from Owen Sound answers some questions, such as regarding the transmission (I think this says no way will Hydro One be able to move the output of all 8 reactors):

"Hawthorne said he is optimistic the new Bruce to Milton transmission line, which is needed to carry all the power Bruce will be able to generate, will be ready "when we need it."

"The construction work is going very well. I'm assured by Hydro One people that is the case . . . There's two things. One is there's a contractual, if you like, element which says we should not assume it's going to be there before the end of 2012 from a contractual point of view. But that's not the programatic date that they're working to. Really Hydro One have to speak for themselves, but I'm working on the basis that the transmission will be there when we need it and I've got every reason to believe that's the case," he said.

A Hydro One spokeswoman could not confirm the transmission capacity would be ready that soon. Nancy Shaddick said she could only say the projects is "on schedule to meet its service date of December 2012."

So far 486 of the 727 towers along the route have been completed and 219 towers have power lines attached, she said."

The article raise new questions to. While the two reactors were being refurbished, so to were units in Point Lepreau, New Brunswick, and Wolsong 1 in South Korea, both of which were operational until the refurbishment project began with. Mr. Hawthorne seems, to me, to be giving notice that such refurbishments is not in his plans for the remaining unit at Bruce:

Hawthorne said he doubts Bruce Power will undertake such a massive project again, despite the provincial government's long-term energy plan which "assumes all of the units at the Bruce site will be refurbished when it is necessary to do so . . . (Units) 1 and 2 were very unique because they'd been shut down for more than a decade before I got here so they needed a different approach whereas the other units are all operating today so it would be more a phased replacement of life-limiting components," he said.

He might mean they have more affordable methods of accomplishing the same thing with minimal interruption of output. If so, why are OPG building a mock-up structure at Darlington to practice refurbishments?